Method for Operating a Communication System Having a Plurality of Nodes, and a Communication System Therefor

1. A method for operating a communication system having a shared communication channel and multiple nodes which have access to the shared communication channel, comprising: monitoring for bit errors in a transmission of a message over the shared communication channel; transmitting, when a bit error is detected, a signaling message over the shared communication channel in order to signal the detected bit error; and measuring a signaling rate of the signaling message; wherein a bit error rate of the shared communication channel is determined as a function of the signaling rate, a channel occupancy of the shared communication channel, and a capacity of the shared communication channel.

2. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the channel occupancy is determined by measuring a message rate of messages transmitted without error over the shared communication channel.

3. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the bit error rate is determined by averaging bit error rates of multiple transmissions of messages.

4. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein a bit error rate of a selected transmission process in which the message is transmitted by a selected node is determined as the bit error rate.

5. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein at least one of the signaling rate of the signaling message and the bit error rate is repeatedly determined at predefined intervals over a specified measuring period.

6. The method as recited in claim 5 , wherein the measuring interval is specified by a start command for starting the interval and a stop command for ending the interval.

7. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein a communication behavior of at least one node of the communication system is adapted as a function of an evaluation of at least one of the measured signaling rate of the signaling message and the determined bit error rate.

8. The method as recited in claim 7 , wherein the communication behavior of at least one node is adapted as a function of a comparison of the bit error rate with a specified threshold value selected from multiple specified threshold values.

9. The method as recited in claim 7 , wherein the evaluation is performed periodically.

10. The method as recited in claim 7 , wherein the evaluation is performed in response to a specified query command.

11. The method as recited in claim 7 , wherein the communication system is a CAN bus system.

12. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the channel occupancy is a level of utilization of the shared communication channel.

13. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the channel occupancy is determined from a message length of transmitted messages.

14. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the channel occupancy is determined from a portion of each of a transmitted message.

15. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the channel occupancy is at least one of: constant and pre-defined.

16. A communication system, comprising: a shared communication channel; a plurality of nodes which have access to the shared communication channel, wherein at least one node has a controller configured to (i) monitor for bit errors in a transmission process for transmitting a message over the shared communication channel, and (ii) in the case of a detected bit error, transmit a signaling message in order to signal the detected bit error; at least one measuring device configured to measure a signaling rate of the signaling message; and a processor configured to determine a bit error rate as a function of the signaling rate, a channel occupancy of the shared communication channel, and a capacity of the shared communication channel.

17. The communication system as recited in claim 16 , wherein the at least one measuring device is included in the at least one node.

18. The communication system as recited in claim 16 , wherein the at least one measuring device is integrated into the controller of the at least one node.

19. The communication system as recited in claim 16 , wherein the at least one measuring device is a separate component configured as ASIC.